President Robert Mugabe’s party lost control of Zimbabwe’s Parliament on Wednesday and the opposition said that he had been defeated for the first time in a presidential poll.
Official results, which have trickled out slowly since Saturday’s election, showed that Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF could not outvote the combined opposition seats in Parliament. Official figures said the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had taken 105 seats, a breakaway faction 9 and an independent one in the 210-seat Parliament.
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF has so far taken 94.
Mugabe (84) faced an unprecedented challenge in the elections after being widely blamed for the economic collapse of the once-prosperous nation, which the former guerrilla leader has ruled since independence from Britain 28 years ago.
The mainstream MDC faction said its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, had won 50,3% of the presidential vote and Mugabe 43,8% according to its own tallies of results posted outside polling stations.
No official results have emerged in the presidential election and the government dismissed the opposition claim.
But all the signs are that Mugabe is in the worst trouble of his rule.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said Tsvangirai had an absolute majority, enough for outright victory, but he would accept a second round run-off against Mugabe ”under protest”.
Biti appealed to Mugabe to concede defeat and avoid ”embarrassment”. Analysts said the president was likely to be humiliated in a run-off.
His government called the MDC claim ”mischievous”. Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Sky television: ”President Mugabe is going nowhere. We are not going to be pressurised into anything.”
The government has warned that victory claims before an official result would be regarded as a coup.
Army
Matonga said in a telephone interview with Sky: ”No one is panicking around President Mugabe. The army is very solidly behind our president, the police force as well.”
Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba, said the MDC was in contempt of the law by announcing results. ”You are drifting in very dangerous territory and I hope the MDC is prepared for the consequences,” he said.
Mugabe, known for his fierce rhetoric, has not been seen in public since voting, despite speculation he would make a television address on Tuesday night.
The government appears to have been preparing the population for a run-off by revealing its own projections showing a second round would be required in the statutory three weeks after last Saturday’s vote. Both Tsvangirai and the government have dismissed widespread speculation that the MDC was negotiating with Zanu-PF for a managed exit for Mugabe.
Analysts said Mugabe was unlikely to make a negotiated exit but go down fighting in the run-off.
The state-owned Herald newspaper said on Wednesday projections for the presidential election showed Mugabe would fail to win an outright majority for the first time in nearly three decades.
The prospect of a run-off has raised fears both inside and outside Zimbabwe that the hiatus before a new vote would spark serious violence between security forces and militia loyal to Mugabe on one side and MDC supporters on the other.
The Herald also said the government had decided to immediately implement tax relief to cushion the effect of runaway inflation, officially more than 100 000% but estimated to be much higher — the world’s highest rate.
The opposition and international observers said Mugabe rigged the last presidential election in 2002. But some analysts say the groundswell of discontent over the economy is too great for him to fix the result this time without risking major unrest.
Apart from the surreal inflation and a virtually worthless currency, Zimbabweans are suffering food and fuel shortages and an HIV/Aids pandemic that has contributed to a steep drop in life expectancy.
The opposition, including former Finance Minister Simba Makoni, who stood as a third candidate, is expected to unite behind Tsvangirai if there is a run-off.
‘Step down with dignity’
Meanwhile, Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu expressed hope on Wednesday that Mugabe would be able to step down with dignity.
”That is democracy. Democracy is, you change government when people decide,” Tutu said in Cape Town, speaking to journalists after a memorial service for anti-apartheid activist Ivan Toms.
”I mean when your time is over, your time is over.
”We hope the transition will be a peaceful one, relatively peaceful, and that Mr Mugabe will step down with dignity, gracefully.”
Tutu said Mugabe, who played a pivotal role in the armed struggle that toppled the Rhodesian regime, was ”someone we were very proud of”.
”He did a fantastic job, and it’s such a great shame, because he had a wonderful legacy. If he had stepped down ten or so years ago he would be held in very, very high regard.
”And I still want to say we must honour him for the things that he did do, and just say what a shame.
”We hope he will be able to step down gracefully, with dignity.” — Reuters, Sapa